Note, all the books I've read say to use JPG 2000 as your codec as it has the best support around, but I'm sure there are a plethora of other options available (for instance, the DCP systems are designed to be able to use new codecs like the h.265 that I've read is currently in development).
So, taking note of a great acronym, GIYF... So I take a little look at what the internet shows:
http://www.dcpinfo.com/
Snippets from that page:
If you want a 35mm print, and your movie was shot digitally and finished on an Avid or Final Cut Pro (or any nonlinear editing system), you'll need to do a "filmout"-- the process of converting your digital files into a film print. The cost for a feature film "filmout" is typically $40,000-$50,000 or more. Each additional print is about $1000-$1500.
to comply with Academy rules, your DCP must meet the following specifications:
Video: 24.00 frames per second
Compression: JPEG2000 (Poster note: This is the codec - just to be clear)
Color Space: XYZ
Video Format: 2K - 2048x1080 container size (1920x1080, 1998x1080 and other image sizes are acceptable)
Audio Format: 24-bit, 48 kHz uncompressed
Minimum 3 channels (Left,Right,Center) or 5.1 (L,R,C,LFE,LS,RS)
Audio Channel
Mapping: 1:Left 2:Right 3:Center 4:Subwoofer 5:Left Surround 6:Right Surround
Encryption: Unencrypted material only
This information is from a company trying to sell you services.... Note, you can have different frame rates now.
So I continue on my internet search...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Cinema_Package
This page has a list of software that can be used for DCP creation. There are even a few that look like they are free Opencinematools (
http://opencinematools.googlecode.com/files/opencinematools-1.1.2-bin-win32.zip) and 2DCP_GUI (
http://www.mik-digital.de/programme).
If you try these programs, please let us know how they go. I've never used them before.
Further looking on the internet, it seems that you can do it within Premier Pro from CS5 onwards. The information is posted from here:
http://ceeller.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/how-to-export-for-packing-into-dcp.html
You'll need the whole article, so I'm not reporting it here. This article also explains how to do 3D, so yeeha right? It's obviously not the only way to do it, but having a solution is better than no solution right? If you need another solution, try google. Take any/all of the information with a grain of salt. It came from the internet, so it must be true.
I'm sure APE/Alcove is going to pipe in with the potential problems in this article in regards to sound. Take it away...
Does that help?
Lesson learned here? Google can really help these questions. What would have happened if I wasn't wasting time, procrastinating from doing some assistant editing duties.